Author: quannd

During a total solar eclipse, people may see some strange things. Sure, there’s the main event happening in the sky (SN: 1/4/24). But the world may also look a little different on the ground. For a few minutes, as the moon blocks the sun’s rays, colors fade to silvery gray in the false twilight. Usually vibrant reds may appear dark or even black, while blues and greens will pop. Two things are happening to produce the color shift, says Takeshi Yoshimatsu, a color vision researcher at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.  First, there’s what is going on…

What the viral story of a missing Alabama woman says about all of us. From the beginning, the details of Carlee Russell’s disappearance seemed destined to cause an internet frenzy: Russell, a Black 25-year-old nursing student, went missing from the side of a highway in Hoover, Alabama, on the night of July 13, shortly after calling 911 to report a child wandering alone on the side of the highway. Russell’s brother’s girlfriend, on the phone with her following her 911 call, reported hearing Carlee scream and what sounded like the phone being dropped. When the police reached Carlee’s car just…

Blizzard is back with its hilarious April Fools Update for Overwatch 2, and fans are once again hoping that some of the funky abilities stay for good. Overwatch fans eagerly wait for the release of the April Fools Update every year, and the event is back with some hilarious changes. The Overwatch 2 event is well-known for the googly eyes as well as the comical voice lines, but fans look forward to the ability changes the most. The next few weeks are going to be quite eventful for fans as Blizzard Entertainment will be releasing the highly anticipated Season 10…

Ecuadoran gangsters abducted, interrogated and killed five tourists, apparently thinking they were members of a rival drug gang, officials said this weekend, while a separate attack by gunmen killed nine people on the country’s coast.Around 20 attackers stormed a hotel Friday in the beach town of Ayampe in southern Ecuador and kidnapped six adults and a child, local police commander Richard Vaca said.The abducted tourists, all Ecuadorans, were interrogated and hours later the bodies of five adults were found with gunshot wounds on a road, he said. The assailants “apparently mistook them for adversaries” from a rival drug gang, said…

The ‘Beverly Hills, 90210’ actress spoke about the comment that her estranged husband made that led her to filing for divorce on her podcast. Image Credit: Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images Tori Spelling opened up about why she ultimately filed for divorce from Dean McDermott, her husband of 18 years, during an episode of her misSPELLING podcast on Sunday, March 31. The actress, 50, revealed that she ultimately decided to file after Dean, 57, spoke about their relationship troubles in a recent interview. “I just filed for divorce. Whoa, I just said the words that I’ve said in my head for, like, 16 years. Wild,”…

Most of the finishers of the Tour of Flanders were in a place beyond words as they drifted through the mixed zone in Oudenaarde. In many cases, the haunted faces and chattering teeth told their own story. If this wasn’t quite hell, then it would do until the formal appointment with the infernal horrors at Paris-Roubaix next weekend.Magnus Sheffield withstood the rigours of a tumultuous day better than most, reaching the finish in sixth place. On a day of relentless attacking and driving rain, Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) was in a league entirely of his own, but Sheffield came…

Good news for pet owners! American Airlines is relaxing its pet policy and allowing those who travel with their animal companions to bring a full-size carry-on too, along with the pet carrier.”On flights with American you can bring one pet carrier as a carry-on if: You pay the carry-on pet fee; Your pet stays in the pet carrier and under the seat in front of you the entire flight,” says American Airline’s on their website, adding that passengers can also bring “one additional item on board with your pet,” which can be a personal item like a purse or small…

Twenty million years ago, the Swiss Plateau region, or “Mittelland”, was an ocean in which dolphins swam. Researchers at the University of Zurich’s Palaeontological Institute have discovered two previously unknown species related to modern sperm whales and oceanic dolphins based on a study of fossilised ear bones. About 20 million years ago the climate became warmer resulting in rising sea levels that flooded the low-lying areas of Europe. Switzerland at the time was part of an island landscape populated by fish, sharks and dolphins, with mussels and sea urchins on the seabed. Palaeontologists at the University of Zurich have now…

Christmas embodies a tapestry of ritual traditions and customs shared by many countries and cultures. Some hearken back to ancient times, while others represent more recent innovations. Many English customs, such as the Ashen Faggot, Smoking Bishops, and the Shoe the Mare have faded into history, yet several traditions (some shared) persist and endure into the present day. The Christmas Cracker Christmas crackers are festive table decorations that are traditionally pulled during Christmas dinner and parties to reveal a gift, a joke, and a paper hat. Christmas crackers are found on tables across the United Kingdom, Ireland, and countries such…

The Chinese writing system, originating during the Shang Dynasty around 1600 BC, is a testament to China’s rich cultural heritage. Unlike alphabetic systems found in many Western languages, Chinese characters are ideographic, directly representing concepts or ideas rather than phonetic sounds. This unique approach, rooted in pictographic origins, contributed to the system’s complexity and distinctiveness. Is 8,000-year-old Damaidi Rock Art the Origin of Chinese Writing? The Shang Dynasty: Second in Traditional Historiography, First in Archaeology Initially, during the Shang Dynasty, the script consisted of pictographs, where characters resembled the objects they represented. Over time, these pictographs evolved into more abstract symbols, forming the basis…